Worth a Try
by Rebelina11
Summary: Sookie is sick. After 26 years of bliss with her Viking love, her life is coming to an end. Multiple POV's. Set after AAD - must read AAD to understand. Rated M just in case.
1. And Now What?

**Sookie is sick. After 26 years of bliss with her Viking love, her life is coming to an end. Multiple POV's. Set after AAD (must read AAD to understand). Rated M just in case.**

**Get your hankies and tissues and don't ask me if this is a HEA (Happily Ever After). You know it is. The Queen of HNA (Happily Never After) is BlackDeadOrchids and I would never be able to equal her. BTW, all her stories are worth reading and loving. I'm a huge fan. Go be snobs like me who read sad stories (not all of them are sad – she puts disclaimers – but all of them are great!).**

**I don't own any of the SVM characters, only their children (Idony and Rowyn). I'm poor so… you can sue if you wanna, but you won't get much.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 – And Now What?<strong>

**~Idony's POV~**

It was the eve of my twenty-sixth birthday when I got the call. I had to sit down and make sure to breathe for a moment. Six months… my life had been completely perfect for six months. But I knew there had been something wrong, even if I couldn't put my finger on it. Mom had been blocking her thoughts from me more often lately, and she was looking paler every time I saw her. I thought that maybe she had finally stopped tanning, but it was a vain hope. I knew there was something going on and I had refused to think about if for very long. Sometimes, when you decide to ignore something, something comes back to bite you in the ass.

Up until the night when I got my brother's call, I'd been living a serene life with my husband Evan, in my new house in Shreveport, running Dad's business as he prepared to sign it over to me. The wedding had been Mom and Dad's gift to us, and so was the new house I was now sharing with my husband. I remembered Dad's incredibly proud face when he walked me down the aisle six months earlier, and Mom crying but saying she was happy all the same. She had blocked her thoughts that night, but I thought it was just so I wouldn't be nervous on my wedding day.

Now my brother Rowyn called sounding very scared. He was still living at home while he went to college at LSU, and right that moment I was glad he was there to monitor the situation. He kept talking as I grabbed my purse to make my way across Shreveport to my parents' house.

"Dad sounds like he's pleading. I saw him earlier wiping his face of blood. I'm scared Idy," he said, using the name he had adopted for me since he learned how to talk. I could imagine his face full of worry, looking so much like a slightly younger version of Dad but with red hair, like Dad's dad, or so the story went.

"I'm on my way, okay? Don't tell them because then they'll get nervous and call me to tell me to stay home," I said to my little brother as I raced to my car wearing my comfy pants and shirt, what I'd been wearing after work.

I hung up with Rowyn and called Evan to let him know what was going on. He was still working his shift as detective with the Shreveport PD. I'd already told him about my uneasy feelings.

"Dad crying doesn't sound good," Evan said. He was very fond of his in-laws, as was I of mine. The Vincent family hadn't worried about their son marrying the daughter of a vampire. "Let me know what's going on, okay?" Evan's worried voice was a comfort. It made me think that he could fix anything.

"As soon as I figure it out I'll call you," I said and raced to my parents', disobeying several traffic laws.

As soon as I parked in front of my parents' house I knew something was wrong. I was able to read Mom's mind easily, and she was making lists. That, in and of itself, wasn't surprising. But she was listing people to call in case of death: My uncle Jason, my aunt Pam, the lawyer, the insurance company, the bank… I shook my head, a mannerism that my mom and I shared and drove Dad nuts, but it didn't clear my head. I turned off the car and saw Rowyn opening the front door. Suddenly Dad stood behind him, looking like somebody had hit him in the gut. Sometimes I wished I could read vampire minds. They both waited for me to join them, and then we walked silently to the den.

"What's going on?" I asked after a long period of sitting in silence.

"Mom won't let me heal her anymore," Dad said looking at his hands on his lap. He looked beyond defeated.

"What do you mean? What have you been healing her from?" I asked. Daddy used to give us drops of his blood to heal scrapes as kids, but I suspected Mom's young looks were due to the fact that he gave her much more than just a few drops. Mom looked around thirty years old, maybe thirty-five, not fifty-two.

"She didn't want me to tell you anything, but now I have no choice. Mom has cancer. When we found out I started giving her my blood more often. It would shrink the cancer, but it never went away. For two weeks she has refused my blood. She says it's her time. She refuses to get treatment. The doctor recommended chemotherapy, said it would buy her some time, but your mother refuses." Dad shook his head, red tears forming under his eyes.

I'd never seen my dad cry. It hit me so hard that he was in so much despair. Rowyn and I hugged him, too shocked by the news to cry yet. We were about to lose our mom. But there was something else I knew: if Mom left us, Dad would die right after. There was no doubt in my mind. Rowyn and I would be orphaned.

As selfish as that sounds, I couldn't bear it. I'd always seen my dad as a force of nature. At a thousand-one-hundred-seven years old, he was one of the oldest vampires I knew. My mom was an amazing telepath and had taught me and Rowyn how to control our powers. More than each individual, Mom and Dad together were an exceptional couple. No one could have taught me what true love looked like better than them. I couldn't love Evan so well if it hadn't been for watching my parents in love every single day of my life. I never thought they would be no more. One never thinks about those things.

I went to Mom and Dad's room and found Mom sleeping. There was an IV in her arm, but that was the only indication that she was ill. That and her pallor. I stared with fear rising in my gut, unable to keep my thoughts covered enough not to wake her. Rowyn was probably thinking just as loud standing next to me. Dad didn't want to come in the room just yet. He wanted to cry alone. His despair was breaking us.

"What are you two doing in here?" Mom asked sounding a little surprised.

"Rowyn called me," I said at the same time that Rowyn said, "I called her."

Mom sighed and looked away for a moment, before looking back at us. "The cancer started in my breast, but it metastasized. Now it's in my lungs. I saw my Aunt Linda battle it, and I don't want to go through that. I'd rather…"

"Why won't you take Dad's blood?" Rowyn asked, his tears coming down as hot and steady as mine.

"Because I was still in pain. The doctors kept taking out the cyst and it kept returning almost as soon as I stopped drinking Dad's blood. I can't give him mine, and he can't replenish well enough on substitutes. It's been killing him," she explained.

"He's dying, but not because of you taking his blood," I pointed out. I knew it wasn't fair, but I was mad and sad at the same time. "What about Aunt Pam?"

"She's in a committed relationship. I couldn't ask her, but it doesn't matter. She would waste away as well. It's my time to go. You know, Dad once said that even the mighty Sookie Stackhouse can't cheat death. He was right." Mom smiled, remembering something.

"I'm calling Grandpappy," Rowyn said, whipping out his cell phone.

"Please don't," Mom said lifting an arm to stop him. "He will want to come and Dad can't be around fairies right now. I don't want visitors either."

Mom was being stubborn. Well, what else was new? She motioned for us to get closer, so we sat at either side of her on the bed, like old times except now all four of us wouldn't fit… or would we? I could sense Dad by the door, listening into our conversation.

"I don't know how much time I have left. Daddy called to have a nurse come every day. The doctor prescribed the morphine to ease my pain. I'm okay for a while, but I don't know for how long. I want you both to be strong. This is part of living. At least I wasn't cursed like my grandmother to watch my own children die before me. You two will live long and healthy lives and you will take care of each other and Daddy. That is all I ask." Mom reached for our hands. Hers wasn't frail yet, but it seemed so to me. I was afraid of touching her, imagining her to be like a puzzle that was about to crumble into pieces.

I had a moment of serendipity. If I could give her something to look forward to, maybe she would accept whatever help Dad was willing to give her. I wasn't ready to share the news yet, since so many things could happen, but it was my only ace.

"Mom, I'm pregnant," I said, and let it hang in the air like hope on a string. I was putting all of our hopes on that tiny bundle of cells that was growing inside my belly at that very moment.

Dad burst into the room, eyes wide, hope shining within. Rowyn looked at me astonished, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. And Mom beamed and brushed a couple of stray tears from her cheeks.

"I wish I could see my grandbaby," Mom said, her voice breaking.

"Then stay," I said, but she was already shaking her head.

Dad collapsed on the floor shaking violently. Rowyn went to him and held him, and I held Mom who was shaking just as bad. They were two parts of a whole, why couldn't she see?

I made a decision as I soaked my mom's nightgown with tears: I was not giving up. She didn't want me to call our Grandpappy, that was on her. I was calling. I was going to beg for his help and I wouldn't care how much it cost.

**~Eric's POV~**

The night that we told our children that Sookie was dying is a strange one in my memory. Some moments were a blur, and some moments are etched in my memory like sculptures on granite. I know I told Idy and Rowyn some things, I know that Sookie told them others, but I don't remember much of that. I remember crying for the very first time in front of my children. To me they were still my babies. Idony was a day shy of twenty-six, a capable strong woman like her mother, with a head for business like me. Rowyn was twenty, still making his way through his studies and living with us. But to me they were the tiny little babies that I fed with their mother's milk at night, my two legacies, the ones who would carry me through this existence. Never did I think that Sookie wouldn't be by my side.

When Idony announced she was pregnant I was ecstatic for two reasons. One, it would be another miracle, my baby making me a grandfather. As old as I am and I can still be surprised. Two, I knew that Idy was also trying to keep her mother alive, and she was dangling that carrot of hope in front of Sookie's face.

Sookie shook her head. She wouldn't stay, not ever to see her grandchild. I collapsed on the floor, the last hope shattered. How was I supposed to continue without my blood bonded? She was my everything. My existence was tied to her irrevocably. It was more than blood and magic what bound us. It was love, our hearts, our souls. My dear one, my darling, my everything was dying!

That night I watched my three loves sleep on the bed next to me, dreading the sun because I didn't want to be unconscious during any part of the day. With the nurse coming in, I had to sleep in one of the guest rooms, so I felt even more isolated from my wife. But that night I had it all for a few precious hours: my three beloved and a fourth one the way. Why couldn't it always be like this? I wanted it all. I had it all for twenty-six years, my daughter's life span. Not nearly long enough.

I stared at each beloved in turn.

My son Rowyn, who we hadn't named until we met him in the hospital room where he was born. The wisps of red hair reminded me that my father had red hair, so we named him after my father. He was his mother's child, loving and giving, and like his mother and sister also had the gift of telepathy. He had been a great and dedicated student, a quiet child, living forever in his big sister's shadow. My baby boy. My pride and joy. He was my dreamer, the one who would tell me made up stories that would have made a **skald** envious. I had great dreams for him, but then again, he had great dreams for himself.

My daughter Idony, conceived during our honeymoon, the first miracle. Ever the curious one, she was always asking me to show her my fangs. She was a pillar of strength, and a favorite of Pam. They fired snarky comments at each other like it was a hobby, and not just now as an adult. One of the first full sentences she said to Pam was that Pam wasn't her real aunt. When asked how she came to that conclusion she said it was because Pam didn't look like me or Mommy, like that ever explained anything. Idony was the explorer, always searching, until one day she found an old calendar with my picture on it. She must have been ten. She was furious that I had posed for a picture and showed my butt. Did Mommy know about this? I laughed so hard that I couldn't show her where I'd dedicated the photo to Sookie. Now my explorer was going to be a mother, but the announcement was bittersweet. I could not rejoice if Sookie would not share in my happiness.

My wife Sookie, my beloved above all others and above all else, the one that had made everything happen. She had given me my miracles. She had loved me like no one else. I had loved her back, and I still loved her so, that I didn't know how my heart wouldn't beat for her. I knew it wanted to. I imagined waking up without her and it felt like dying all over again. Who would I talk to? Who would I love? Who would talk to me? Who would love me? My darling, my little Sookie, the one who had chosen me, she was leaving. I was hers. To continue my existence without her was an aberration. It wasn't supposed to happen. I wanted to force her to take my blood.

But I never could.

I had thought about a transfusion, sneaking during the night and giving her my blood through the IV she had in her hand.

But I never would.

That's not what she wanted. She wanted to leave in peace, on her own terms, not to linger in limbo with pain.

I hoped that I was invited wherever she was going because I would have to follow.

**TBC**

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><p><strong>Skald: <strong>The **skald** was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry (Icelandic: _dróttkvæði_) is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age (source: Wikipedia(dot)org)


	2. Hope Springs Eternal

**A/N: **Hi, everybody! Thank you so much for the wonderful response that this story has gotten. I just wanted to remind y'all that it will only be a few chapters long (4 at the most). I thought it was time to completely wrap up AAD, and this is it. Your reviews were very moving, and I'm very happy that y'all trust me with this story and choose to stick it out, even through the thoroughly depressing first chapter.

There was also some confusion as to Idony and Rowyn's Grandpappy… to them that would be Fintan, not Niall. I'm really sorry for the confusion. I should have made it a bit clearer.

So now, let's find out why Sookie is being so stubborn… Everyone get your tissues and hankies, but actually I cried more at the end. Yes, I cried as I wrote. *mumbles* stupid muse...

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 – Hope Springs Eternal<strong>

**~Sookie's POV~  
><strong>I should have known my darling children would call their great-grandfather. Fintan arrived at the house at high noon, while I was having lunch outside on the deck under a big umbrella. I was alone, waiting for my nurse to arrive in about an hour. Idony had left to go to work and Rowyn to go to school. There were many things I could still do myself, so being alone wasn't a hardship. However, changing the site of the IV was not one of those things I could do. Every three days the nurse would move the IV. My arms were starting to look like pincushions, and we were only two weeks into this.

Fintan took a seat across from me, eyeing me carefully. He looked exactly the same as when I'd met him. I take that back. He had developed a few tiny wrinkles around his eyes, but I could only see them when he smiled. He wasn't smiling right at that moment. His blue gray eyes were filled with worry.

"Granddaughter," he said by way of greeting, and got comfortable on the chair. "Idony called me this morning to give me some bad news. I would have expected to hear them from you directly."

I sighed. I wasn't in the mood to explain myself, but I knew I had to. "Eric isn't doing too well and having the scent of fairy around won't help him."

"From what I hear it is not him who is ill. It is you. Care to tell me about it?" Fintan asked and leaned forward in his chair, putting his arms on the table and fixing me with a look. Right then I could see how much he resembled my father. Of the vague recollections that had become clearer with time, I could definitely see it.

I took a bite of my sandwich. At least I was able to eat. If I had chosen chemo, well, God only knew if I would have been able to do even this much. "I have cancer," I said to my grandfather. Even admitting it out loud was painful.

"Like your aunt," he said. My pain was echoed in his face. Sometimes I forgot that he had lost the mother of his children and his children as well. But at other times, like now, I could see the ghosts of the people that he had loved throughout his long life… they were there with him, in his eyes.

"Yes, like Aunt Linda."

"Is that why you will not get the treatment, because of what you saw her go through?"

I nodded, remembering my dear aunt. She had wasted away and in the end it had been for nothing. The only thing that chemo had done for her was prolong the pain. Even after all these years there was no cure for cancer, only treatment.

"Why won't you let your mate help you? Idy says he is willing but you will not accept his help," Fintan tried to reason. If I was being honest with myself, I'd avoided him so I didn't have to talk about it. But he had asked, so I had to answer.

"In the beginning Eric gave me blood. The cyst would stop growing and the doctors would remove it. A day or two without his blood, and a new cyst would develop, and I had to go again and get it removed. We did this for months, me in constant pain or anesthesia from the surgeries, Eric unable to replenish because I'd lost blood during the surgeries and couldn't give him any. He started to lose strength, and the synthetic blood is not good enough for him. We even tried with bagged blood, but for some reason it wasn't enough. He refuses to drink directly from a donor, won't even consider it. It was killing me to see him wasting away. I couldn't do that to him.

"I can't bear to see him so weak," I continued. "To hurt him in that way hurts more than what's ravaging my body now. Even today, he fell asleep well before the dawn and we couldn't wake him up so that he could seek shelter away from the nurse. He has regained some of his strength, but not all. He gave me blood for months, and finally I had to stop. I love him so much…" my voice faltered as I wiped my face with a napkin. Fintan remained silent, letting me talk and get it all out.

"Idy and Rowyn don't understand, they think I'm being selfish for not taking their father's blood to get better. It isn't that at all. He would let himself be drained to heal me. He would die and I would die with him. Accepting my fate is the only way one of us can stay alive and be with the kids. My time on this Earth is up. It's still Eric's time to remain. The Ancient Pythoness said he would never be alone again. I'm counting on that. I'm hoping that he will get over my death and realize that his children need him to continue, that his legacy is alive and well and needs his protection.

"He will not listen to that," I paused to blow my nose. "He feels like he will die when I die, which is insane."

"Is it, dear granddaughter?" Fintan asked. His face still looked as young as ever, but his eyes were old. "Is it insane to love another so much that their death would rip your soul apart? What if the reverse were true? What if Eric was the one dying of cancer and you were the vampire who could save him?"

"But I'm not…"

"Put yourself in his shoes. You love him enough for that," he said, implying that I didn't love him enough.

"He's my everything," I said very low. The lump in my throat didn't let me speak any louder.

"Would you consider letting him turn you?" Fintan asked, eyeing me curiously. It was as if he didn't want to know the answer, but had felt duty-bound to ask.

"I've thought about it a lot. The moment we knew that we were done having children I started entertaining the idea. But the fact is that the threat of taking a life to feed myself is horrifying and against everything I believe in. I would let Eric turn me if he could guarantee that I wouldn't kill anybody, but he can't make that guarantee. He and Pam are older vampires who have their instincts well under control, but new vampires have no such control. Not only is there a threat of my taking a human life, but also of being unfaithful to my husband. I don't know what to do. I hurt them either way. And now Idy told me she's expecting," I choked, unable to speak for several moments. "What kind of grandmother wants to drain her grandchild?"

"You would not be that way, Sookie. Eric is very old indeed. If he were your maker, he would have control over your new instincts." Fintan paused and rolled his eyes. "I do not wish for you to turn into a vampire. I love my family just the way it is. I love your humanity, the part of myself that I've had to suppress for so many years in order to live in Fairy. I have it in all of you, my family. I loved Adele so much that I made her a love token. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was capable of making one, but…"

"What kind of love token?" I interrupted, thinking "how hard could it possibly be?" I was thinking of something he built or crafted with his hands.

"In Fairy, a long time ago, mates gave each other love tokens called cluviel dors. A cluviel dor is an object infused with one mate's magic for the benefit of the other. You can only make one if you truly love the other person, and it takes some time. I made one for Adele when she first gave birth to my son." At Fintan's confession his eyes got a dreamy look. "He was so beautiful, such a healthy boy. I was elated, and the love I felt for Adele could not be contained. I infused a small box with my love and my magic, filled it to the brim and sealed it. Adele could use it for anything, as long as it was to help a loved one."

I listened to the story fascinated, wondering what Gran had used the love token for. I asked my grandfather but he didn't know. "She must have used it, I suppose, to take care of Colbert or Linda at some point. It must have happened before Linda became sick with the cancer," he said, shaking his head with a new sadness. "Both my children were beautiful, and taken before their time. That should not be happening to you."

I couldn't agree more, yet here we were. In a few days I had an appointment with a funeral home. I would wrap my affairs and make sure everything was ready for me to depart this world. If my heart would just stop hurting every time I thought about leaving Eric… He needed to stay here. He HAD to stay here, for our children. And that meant that where I was going, he couldn't follow.

**~Idony's POV~  
><strong>What a way to spend my birthday. I woke up before the crack of dawn, with Mom asking me to see if Dad would wake up and go to the other room. Rowyn woke up too after hearing our voices. The only one who wouldn't wake up was Dad. He was dead to the world. That's when I started to understand what Mom had said about taking blood from him, and how it was killing him. As far as I remembered Dad was one of those vampires who could stay awake after sunrise, as long as he was away from the light.

"I think I can carry him," Rowyn offered. He was as big as Dad, but I still doubted he could carry him to another bedroom.

"No, no, let him rest," Mom said, getting closer to Dad on the bed now that Rowyn and I had vacated the middle. "I'll meet the nurse downstairs, don't worry."

I watched for a moment while Mom got comfy next to Dad. She was lying on her side facing him. Her face was hidden, but her thoughts were clear enough. She was willing Dad to get better, to stay for our sakes and forget about following her to her grave. She was almost screaming her love for him. Inside was chaos. Outside was composure.

When I saw Evan that morning I couldn't help but cry in his arms. He was scared too. He had forged a friendship with both my parents and loved them as if they were his own. Leave it up to Evan to fall in love with my whole family as well as me. His heart knew no bounds.

"I've been thinking about Mom all night," he said. "I'm so sorry this is happening." Evan listened to everything, and to my fear that I would lose both my parents due to this disease that was eating my mom alive.

I left Evan who had worked late and needed to rest, and went to work unable to focus on much. I called my Grandpappy and left a non-specific message that I needed to talk to him urgently. I never knew who I was talking to whenever I called Fairy. Thankfully he called me within ten minutes.

I explained everything as best I could and ended up crying on the phone. Grandpappy got the gist of it, though, and said he would go visit Mom and then stay to celebrate my birthday, since we were all having dinner at my parents'. How were we supposed to celebrate anything was beyond me.

Then the thought that this would probably be my last birthday with my mom, and maybe my dad, made me cry even harder. I had to leave work. I ended up at LSU and met up with my brother, who wasn't doing all that great either. We decided to go home and spend the rest of the day with Mom. After all, we didn't have forever anymore.

Grandpappy was sitting on the couch in the formal living room that nobody ever used when we got to the house. He said it was because the nurse was doing something with needles to Mom.

"I can't look," he said and smiled sheepishly. As old as he was and he was just a weak man, like all males.

Since I wasn't fazed by needles or blood, I went and kept Mom company while the nurse did her thing.

"I wish you would have told me sooner. How did you keep it from Rowyn?" I asked her, not understanding how Rowyn had missed it.

"He's young and in college. He also has a 4.0 average. He studies a lot and is very active in school…"

"And he went to Italy for the summer," I said, filling in some gaps. "I still don't know how you kept it from me."

"You're busy too," she said, looked at me and smiled. She touched my cheek with her free hand, letting me hear her thoughts. She could see Dad in me, how beautiful she found us all and how much she would miss us. She wished she could stay, but the only option she envisioned had her looking like a blood-crazed vampire, willing and able to rip her family to pieces, including her grandchild.

My tears stung my eyes. Everything was coming together, all the pieces of Mom's puzzle. I understood better why she had chosen to leave us. She refused to keep hurting us in order to remain alive. She had faith that Dad would stay so he could take care of us. I had no such faith. I knew exactly what would happen the moment she left: we would mourn both our parents.

When the nurse left, Mom went to take a nap and I returned to the living room. Evan would be bringing the food for my birthday dinner later, Uncle Jason would bring the drinks and True Blood, and Aunt Michele was making my cake. I was glad that my cousins were off to college in Michigan instead of coming over. I was sure Mom didn't want to entertain, even though she was going to do it to make me happy.

"Grandpappy says there may be a way to solve this problem," Rowyn said in a loud whisper. He stood up and motioned for us to go outside. He wanted to make sure our thoughts wouldn't disturb Mom's nap.

We sat in the middle of the lawn in our backyard, enjoying the sun and the cool breeze. Grandpappy enjoyed the sun about as much as Mom, it seemed. He was staring up into the sky when he spoke.

"I think we can make a love token for your mother. Between the three of us we just might have enough power to do it," he said.

Rowyn looked excited. I was lost. "I don't follow," I said, sounding uncannily like Dad.

"It's called a cluviel dor, an object of such immense magic that it can do almost anything for the one you love. It can perform miracles," Rowyn said, using a lot of superlatives as I'm sure he knew.

"Okaaaay," I said, not quite following yet, but knowing that neither Rowyn nor I possessed any magic to speak of.

"Don't knock it down, Idy! It might work," Rowyn said, literally reading my mind.

"What can the love token do?" I asked Grandpappy. "Can Mom use it on herself?"

He thought about my question, trying to come up with an answer. "Technically we would have to make the token for both of your parents so that they can both work the magic together. It's a problem because they are blood bonded and mated, but I suppose she could use it on herself… though we know she would not. She would give it to Eric."

Now he was talking gibberish. "What do you mean they're blood bonded and mated? I know they're married…" my voice trailed trying to figure things out.

Grandpappy smiled. Sometimes he could be so flaky, but sometimes he was chock-full of wisdom. "When your parents first met each other, Eric gave Sookie his blood. They exchanged blood three times, and formed a magical bond only existent within the vampire world. It is called a blood bond. Sookie allowed this because – unbeknownst to her – she had chosen Eric as her mate, just like a fairy would."

"They never said anything," Rowyn mumbled beside me. He was right. They'd kept that secret.

We only knew my parents were married. Rowyn and I had both been to the wedding as children, when I was eight and Rowyn was barely two. I remembered Mom wearing her pretty white gown with pink flowers that I had helped her pick, and Dad had worn a tuxedo. We had gone to a courthouse all four of us, Aunt Pam, Uncle Jason, and Aunt Michele. Everything seemed really cool to me because it had been so late in the evening and we were dressed in party clothes. What I remember the most was the kiss that my parents shared after saying the words that bound them together. They'd been so happy to get married that they kissed with smiles on their faces. Later we had danced at Dad's club for so long that Rowyn had fallen asleep in a booth, with Auntie Indira watching him.

I wanted that again, something to celebrate with singing and music, with both my parents dancing in each other's arms like they had at my wedding six months before. They had looked so in love. They were still in love, after almost twenty-seven years together.

"Grandpappy, do you really think we can make a love token?" I asked, not wanting to get my hopes us but… it was so hard not to get my hopes up. It really was. I wanted something, anything. I would exhaust all possibilities.

He sat up and looked at both my brother and me in turn. "You are about to lose her either way. I believe it is worth a try. The outcome will not be worse than it is now."

I looked over at Rowyn who looked right back at me. I could read his expression easily. It was the same expression I was wearing. Hope.

**TBC**

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><p><strong>AN: Told y'all I would find a way. Now, throw away those icky tissues and get some new ones. The next chapter will be a little sad too before the happy ending.**


	3. The Gift

**A/N: **Hi, everybody! Whoa, I've had a BUSY week or so… Thank you so much for sticking with this story, reading, alerting and favoriting it, and a special thanks to those who review. Sometimes, when I need a little help with writer's block, it is my reviewers who help me the most. That and the DC Beltway, but only because the Beltway is like a black hole, and everything and everyone that travels through it gets stretched silly the closer they get to DC…

P.S.: Don't y'all forget that "Nothing" is now on my blog. Go to rebelina11(dot)com to read it! It is up to Chapter 14 by now... If you've missed it, that's where it is. Kthanxbye!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 – The Gift<strong>

**~Rowyn's POV~**

Mom's fairy brooch was one of those things that we admired over and over as we were kids. Idy would wear it and pretend she was all grown up; I would touch it every time Mom had it on, which was often. Once in a while Mom would make us wear it inside our clothes, but she never told us why. Later, as we grew up, we understood its true purpose: It was like a beacon to bring Mom's fairy guardian in case we were in trouble. I don't recall ever being in trouble. Mom's fairy guardian was Aunt Claudine, and we saw her all the time along with our cousins.

Idy and I concurred that we needed that fairy brooch to make it into the cluviel dor. Grandpappy had said that any item would do, it didn't really matter what it was. But, he did say, that the more meaning the item had and the more beautiful the better. Mom had a lot of beautiful things in her jewelry case. She had necklaces commemorating our births, a set of earrings for every single Mother's Day she'd celebrated, another chunky necklace that she used to joke would call cats in case of trouble… but the most beautiful item, the one with the most history, and the one that was under lock and key, was the amber and jet necklace that Dad had made for her. I'd only seen it a few times, and it wasn't something we could procure. When I say it was under lock and key, I mean NOTHING short of a nuclear bomb would get to it without the combination to Dad's vault, and only he and Mom had it.

So… we went with the fairy brooch.

I snuck into Mom and Dad's bedroom when Mom was taking a shower and Dad was dead to the world. It was an easy in and out, and I retrieved the brooch. Hopefully Mom wouldn't miss it. Idy was waiting for me downstairs, too nervous to do it herself.

"Grandpappy is going to be there in a few minutes," she said, trying to hurry me.

"He's just gonna have to wait. We had to wait until I could get in there undetected," I said, rolling my eyes at her.

"Let's go," Miss Bossy said, and we made our way to the house in Bon Temps. Grandpappy figured the proximity to the fairy portal would help.

"Please tell me you brought the keys," I said to her as she pulled into the long driveway.

Idy made her car screech to a halt. "You've GOT to be kidding me! Rowyn!"

"Hey! I can't be in charge of everything! I was in charge of getting the brooch!" I said and reached in my pocket. I dangled the keys in front of Idy's face. "Where's your brain, huh? Do I have to think of everything?"

"I'm pregnant," she said – as if that would explain anything – and put the car in drive.

"All the more reason to pay attention and remember shit." What can I say? It's fun to mess with my sister.

Grandpappy Fintan was waiting for us on the house's porch, sitting on the swing. He didn't seem put out about having to wait, but Idy still went ahead and started apologizing, blah-di-blah. He smiled and waved her off, as I knew he would. Not everyone is wound up so tightly as Idony.

Finally it was time to figure out how to do this. We were sitting in the living room. I put the brooch on the coffee table and we all took our seats around it. Grandpappy reached out to grab our hands.

"This takes a lot of concentration. I want you to pour love into it. I will, in essence, channel your emotion and we will imbue the flower with our love," he explained. Obviously there was something he could do that we could not, and that was to wield the fairy magic. We settled into silence, each of us lost in the memories of what we loved the most so that we could do this for our parents.

**~Eric's POV~**

"This is getting out of hand," Sookie said wringing her hands and pacing. "Where are they?"

I shook my head. I'd already called Idony's Evan, Pam, everybody at every one of my businesses, and nobody had seen or heard of Idony. Evan had already gotten his department looking for both Idony and Rowyn, and I felt completely useless.

It had all started with Sookie's insistence that something was missing from her jewelry case. I'm not sure how she knew, but I could tell immediately that Rowyn had been around her things very recently. He'd taken his mother's fairy brooch, the one she used as a charm of protection to call Claudine in case of emergency.

We immediately called Rowyn to see what was the matter. Something must have happened for him to need to brooch. He didn't answer. We called Idony to see if she knew where he was, and she didn't answer either. That's when Sookie began to worry in earnest, not that I wasn't worried as well.

Unfortunately, when I attempted to call to my children, I couldn't feel them. It had to do with how weak I'd become. I couldn't even fly, as much as I tried. And I had tried several times to lift off.

Thankfully Pam was driving around. She said her next stop would be the house in Bon Temps. Claudine was also helping, trying her own fairy magic. If Rowyn still had the brooch, then she might be able to pop herself nearby. She would try and let us know. In the meantime, we kept calling our children and kept receiving no answer.

"Sookie, please sit down," I said. I could see the physical pain manifesting on her face, and she was wearing herself out. She needed to rest. I could hear a faint wheezing from her chest as she tried to breathe deeper. Lately she'd had trouble catching her breath.

Sookie stood in front of me looking up. Even though she was feeling weak physically, she was not weak. She was trying her best to exert her will on me. "This is why you cannot think about this business of dying at the same time as me, Eric Northman," she said and stabbed a finger on my chest. "Your children are God knows where or in what kind of trouble or danger. You need to be strong enough to watch over them. Do you see? Do you understand?" She was so mad that her face flushed. I became hungry immediately and would have liked nothing better than to sink my fangs into her pale flesh.

She saw my fangs lengthen and backed away. "I'm so sorry, Eric," she said in a whisper. I knew she was about to cry again. She seemed to think the disease was somehow her fault.

"I'm just hungry," I muttered and reached for her. Her scent would have to do for now. She thought I was mad at her, but there was no room in my heart for any more emotions. I was filled to the brim with worry and despair.

My phone rang and I answered it immediately without bothering to look at the number. It was Idony.

"Where have you been? We've been worried sick! Is your brother with you?" I yelled into the phone.

"We're fine, Dad," I could hear her eyes rolling. Cheeky child! She wasn't too old to get a spanking and I told her so. "We were at the house in Bon Temps, okay? Call off the troops."

"No! You call Evan and Pam and Claudine who are out looking for you and YOU tell them what you were doing and where you are. Do you have any idea what you and your brother did to us? You take Mom's brooch and don't tell us anything? We thought the worst! Evan has his whole department looking for you!" I couldn't stop yelling into the phone.

There was a long pause on the line and finally a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Dad," Idony said, her voice breaking.

I put my hand to my forehead. "Please get home immediately," I said, subdued. All I wanted was to see my children safe and sound. As Sookie would put it, my imagination had gone to town and conjured up a ridiculous amount of horrible scenarios.

Forty-five minutes later Idony and Rowyn arrived, followed by a whole entourage of people who had followed them home. Fintan and Claudine were disguising their scents as they entered the house. Pam looked like she wanted to pull somebody's ear. Evan was huffing and puffing his ire. My children looked like they had gotten several lectures on the way home.

The first thing they did as they walk in was hug both their parents. I felt like I could forgive them anything.

**~Sookie's POV~**

We all sat in the living room waiting for an explanation. I was willing to bet that Idony had been the ringleader of this particular party, but from everything I read, Fintan, Rowyn, and Idony were equally to blame for their disappearance. Granted, in the grand scheme of things they had not disappeared for very long. Just a few hours had passed from the time I discovered my brooch missing until they returned home. But in the supe world, anything could happen in just a few hours.

"Why did you feel the need to take my brooch?" I asked Rowyn. "You scared me. I thought you were in trouble, and then when neither of you answered your phones I thought I would lose it. Care to explain?" I asked, putting off the hit of morphine until we got over this conversation. I wanted to be completely lucid for this one, pain be damned.

"We used the brooch for something, and now we're ready to give it back," Idony started.

"We realize we should have told you where we were so you wouldn't worry," Rowyn continued, "but it was a surprise."

At that moment my children blocked their thoughts from me completely. I crossed my arms over my chest and pushed my way through their barriers. They were mine for a reason.

"Mom! You're giving me a headache," Rowyn complained while Idony made a face and massaged her temple.

I tried to take a deep breath, but the pain was becoming too difficult to take. "I need to go to bed now," I said and lost all semblance of strength. I had none left. "Could you two please just…?"

"We'll explain, Mom. Go to bed, we'll follow," Idony said, getting up and pulling Rowyn.

Eric helped me by carrying me up the stairs. I could feel his strength had waned. He carried me without complain, but I could tell it cost him. Once again I wished he would take another's blood.

I settled in bed, but forewent the morphine for a little longer. I wanted to hear what my darling children had been up to.

Rowyn came forward and handed me the brooch. Immediately I felt better, the way I felt whenever I hugged one of my fairy kin, multiplied by a hundred.

"This isn't my brooch," I said, examining it, and seeing that it was indeed mine.

"We tweaked it with Grandpappy's help," Idony piped up. "Now it will grant you or Dad any wish, as long as it something that will save a loved one. Rowyn and I made it for both of you. It's called a cluviel dor, and…" Idony's voice broke as tears began racing down her cheeks, "we want you to use it to get better."

Eric and I looked at each other at the same time, both of us feeling guilty for yelling at our children at the same time that we marveled at what they were telling us.

"Please get better, Mom," Rowyn pleaded as well. "The cluviel dor is for both of you, so you both have to wish for the same thing."

I blinked and then looked at the small brooch in my hand. Had my children really accomplished this? I'd heard Fintan mention the cluviel dor in passing many years ago. It had never entered my mind that he would help Idony and Rowyn in making one, much less for Eric and me.

I opened my arms and asked silently for my babies. They both hugged me tight, and I didn't care that I couldn't breathe. Their gift would soon put everything to rights. Eric had taught me not to give gifts back, to accept them graciously and thank the giver profusely. That was exactly what I did.

**TBC**

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><p><strong>AN: We'll find out what Eric and Sookie wish for during the next chapter. I have a few Happily-Ever-After's in mind, so… suggestions are more than welcome. I need some help narrowing it down to only one. :-)**


	4. Thank You

**A/N: **Um… even though it's a happy ending, I'm going to put the hanky disclaimer just in case. There are a couple of lemons, not too graphic and kinda short. This story updated on the blog if you'd like to read it with the picture. Don't forget that "Nothing's Gonna Change My World" also updates on the blog every Wednesday, and to go to my blog it's rebelina11(dot)com.

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 – Thank You<strong>

**~Eric's POV~**

Sookie stared at me wide-eyed. She was happy but unsure what to do with the object in her hand. Idony and Rowyn had left us alone in our bedroom, the bedroom we had shared for almost twenty-seven years. Here was our chance to be together forever, and even _I_ didn't know exactly what to wish for.

"Even if you wish me to be an in-control vampire…" she began.

"We'd still need to feed from other people," I finished for her.

The prospect wasn't appetizing for either of us. The jealousy alone would be nearly intolerable. The thought of Sookie's mouth attached to someone else's skin, man or woman didn't matter, just the thought of it filled me with rage. I would do anything to keep her by my side. If turning her would have been the only option, I would have done it had she allowed it. She was my love. My life.

I watched as Sookie shifted uncomfortably and tried to take a deep rattling breath. She was in a great amount of pain and had already dosed as much morphine as the machine would give her. I wanted to offer her my blood. I wanted to make her better. I was slowly starting to feel not only her emotions, but also her physical pain. I would have borne it for her if I could have.

This was my worst nightmare come true. I knew I would lose Sookie if she remained human. Either nature or circumstance would take her away from me, and I always thought that nature would do it first. Even with my blood keeping her young, she would age and she would die an old woman, a life fulfilled. Our family would be with us and watch over our passing. It would be peaceful. I'd been sure we would be together in the hereafter.

Sookie didn't want that; she didn't want us to die together now. She thought her agony was her own. She wanted me to stay alive – or undead – without her. I would be lost without her, an empty shell. My children would have to know that I fed from others; the memory of their mother would be tainted by my necessary actions. Moreover, I didn't think it would be as easy as choosing to remain alive because Sookie asked me to. I was positive that I didn't have a choice in this. When Sookie died, so would I.

"If I turn into a fairy, you would drain me," Sookie whispered as she reclined with effort into her pillows. Her voice brought me out of my reverie and I jumped to help make her comfortable. "And if we wish to cure me, I would still die in a few years," she continued, running out of breath. She was so very pale. She closed her eyes and worked on catching her breath. She was tired, but didn't sleep.

We remained silent for a long time, each of us moving chess pieces in our minds, trying to figure out the best way to use this gift. I had to corral my thoughts into remaining along some kind of productive line, because they seem to want to drift to point out the obvious: that we were running out of time.

"You, Eric," Sookie said, extending her hand and dropping the fairy brooch on the bed between us. "You have to use it so that you can bear to be without me," she whispered and finally succumbed to the medicine coursing through her body. She fell asleep before I could tell her that she was wrong.

I decided to indeed take matters into my own hands, literally. I grabbed the brooch, letting the silver burn my skin and not really caring. I had lived alone for too long: hundreds of years trudging through this earth without someone to call my own. A thousand years without a family. I was not about to lose it now.

I had paid for all my sins. I was tired of the horrors and the sadness and the yearning. I wanted more. I wanted her. Sookie was mine and she would remain with me because it was my wish. Was I selfish? Yes! Yes! A thousand times YES!

**~Sookie's POV~**

I dreamed of better times: better past times and better future times. Everyone was happy, everything was beautiful, and even the knowledge that I was leaving it all behind didn't make the dream any less lovely. It only made me want more.

Was I sinful for not taking my lot? Was it wrong to not want to be like Job? In the ultimate act of cowardice and fear of God, I gave Eric the brooch. The words I said were wrong, but the wish for him to save me was very real and felt right on a biological level. After all, we all do our best to continue to live. I was trying to face my death with some modicum of bravery, but inside I was scared shitless. And THAT was the truth. I didn't want to die, who does? I was resigned to my fate, but I didn't want it. I did know that there were things in life that were worse than death, and those were just as scary: like watching my husband die along with me, not being there for my children, being able to witness my family's mourning before I died…

But in this dream, everything was perfect. I was surrounded by grandchildren. I had my Eric. I had my life and health. It surprised me because I didn't dream while sleeping under the influence of morphine, and even if I had I was sure they wouldn't have been very pleasant dreams anyway.

My wonderful dream morphed into a more erotic version of how I derived my happiness. I felt Eric's hands running over my body, caressing my shoulders, trailing down the side of my breasts, his mouth kissing my chest, one of his legs wedging itself carefully between mine. I moaned in pleasure time and time again, feeling so loved and cherished, so wanted and desired, that I almost wanted to cry. A sobbed escaped me but Eric's mouth soon took care of the next. His kiss was hungry and demanding. I forgot whatever bit of sadness I had felt and focused on this instead: my own desire for my husband, my own need for him, loving and cherishing him with everything I had.

"I can't wait anymore," Eric whispered in my ear, centering his body over mine, waiting for my permission.

"I want you. Take me," I said and gasped. I felt him inside me, moving fast with the need of countless nights.

It had been too long since we'd made love.

It had been too long.

Too long.

I opened my eyes, snapping out of my dream in an orgasm. Eric was bellowing something on top of me, shaking in ecstasy and then resuming his movement, evidently not done, or done but wanting more. I blinked a couple of times in confusion and then decided that this moment was too good to ruin by trying to make sense of it. I gave myself over to Eric completely, his lips kissing me wildly, his fangs fully elongated. He moved the kisses to my neck. I knew he would bite and didn't care. I almost wished he would drain me. Between dying of cancer and dying because Eric had drained me, I preferred the latter. At least then I would know that my essence still lived within my beloved.

Still he wasn't biting, and his hunger transferred to me as something feral and chaotic. He was starving. How had he let this happen?

"Bite, Eric! Bite now!" I commanded. As soon as the words left my mouth I felt the sting, then the bliss of Eric's bite, the rapture of being enveloped in the purple cocoon of our shared climax.

I came down slowly from that euphoric feeling. Eric was still drinking my blood, still moving inside me, slower now. I didn't move and accepted my fate that Eric's hunger would lead him to drain me. Anytime now I would start feeling woozy and sleepy. As fates went, this one wasn't bad. No pain, only love. I could feel it coming from him strongly. He wasn't feeling fear or pain of any kind.

I hugged him tight and gave him all of me. Whatever he wanted, he could have it. Maybe he was getting ready to turn me. Maybe he had wished on the brooch. After so many years of trusting him with all of me, and vice versa, I couldn't stop now.

"I love you," he murmured, licking the wounds he'd made on my neck. "I love you my Sookie."

Eric settled his forehead on my shoulder and began shaking. His tears ran down his cheeks, covering my skin in blood. I let him get the emotions out, even as confused as I was. I took a deep breath, trying not to cry along with him. I took another deep breath. Then another.

"I can breathe," I muttered and he nodded. "I can breathe, what did you do? I can breathe!"

Eric nodded again and brought his tear-streaked face up to look at me. "I know. I wished for it. I wished you healthy. I wished you with me for as long as I live."

I waited for him to explain more, and he waited for my reaction, but I was speechless. I felt wholly human, warm and breathing, with the need to breathe. I was both hungry and thirsty, and I had fed Eric which had made him look ruddy; even the hollows under his cheekbones had filled out a little bit. Vampire blood wouldn't have done that to him.

"What am I?" I asked, because the wait was killing me.

"You are human, and you will be mine for as long as I live. I wished for a true blood bond, one in which we are both together and you remain healthy and vibrant and mine as long as I live…"

"You said that already."

"I gave you a healthy life with me. Forever." Eric smiled through his tears then kissed my befuddled face, letting me taste his blood.

"Do you think it worked?" I asked against his lips.

He looked at me again. "How do you feel?"

I took stock of my body. Nothing hurt. The IV was gone, so I had to assume that Eric had taken it off when I no longer needed it. I could breathe, even as I lay under his body. The fuzziness from the morphine was gone, and I felt like I could run laps, swim the Red River, wrestle alligators, give birth to another child…

"Do you want to have another baby?" I asked, feeling hope rising in my chest. Instead of cancer it held hope.

"It's worth a try," Eric said smiling from ear to ear.

_**SIX MONTHS LATER**_

"I love the spring," Idony said, sipping an iced tea next to me in the backyard. She loved the sun as much as me, but I had always been careful to cover her with sunblock since she was a baby. She was covered in it now, and sporting a cute bikini that left her baby bump bare.

The temperature was nearly in the eighties, not warm enough to be uncomfortable, not cold enough to stay indoors instead of sunbathing.

We both watched Evan playing with the new dog. It was Idony's. That girl had energy to spare for her husband, her job, her coming baby, AND a dog. God bless her, she reminded me so much of Eric, particularly with those glacial blue eyes of hers.

"I'm here," Rowyn announced, kissing my cheek then making a big show of sitting at one of the chairs near me. "That was brutal."

"He had a final today," I explained to Idy. If all went well, Rowyn would graduate with his bachelor's early and then… he would leave us. He wanted to study for his master's at Georgetown University in DC.

Idy rolled her eyes at her brother and called him a wimp, while I thought it was great that he was finishing his degree a year early. I could only see him as my boy, just like Idy was still my girl. They were adults, yes. But they were still my babies.

Evan joined us with the dog, a puppy named Poker… after the game or the tool, I wasn't sure. "You wanted to tell us something?" he asked, and grew serious. He did tend to worry more than he should about things. My smile seemed to put him at ease.

"I wanted to tell you this news now because I want to surprise Dad. If we could all come up with something to make it special, that would make him very happy," I said and waited for the questions to start.

"What's the news?" Idony asked.

"What's going on?" Rowyn asked.

Evan nodded, waiting patiently.

"This morning I found out that I'm pregnant," I said. I had barely been able to get the words out. I was happy and nervous. After all, I was turning fifty-three in July.

"You're pregnant?" the three said in a chorus.

I shrugged and smiled.

"Okay, Mom, explain. I know you said we're Dad's but…" Idy started.

"Shut up, Idony!" Rowyn stopped her. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

"You look just like Dad," Evan said to his wife. And she did. Idony's Nordic good looks were her father's. Rowyn looked more like Jason with red hair.

"There's a necklace that Dad gave me. The stones were blessed by a goddess, by the goddess Freyja, Dad's goddess. She gave him the gift of fertility," I tried to explain to three pairs of ever-widening eyes.

Rowyn sat back suddenly, the picture of ease. "I knew it. I knew it had been some sort of magic."

"Fine, your royal smugness," Idy huffed, making Evan laugh at her. I knew he had the essential spark, which made him the perfect addition to our family. He seemed to understand pretty much everything we threw at him, and if he didn't understand it, he still had faith in the magic floating around. The Vincent family was all the same. Idy had chosen her mate well.

"So, anyway," I interrupted the sibling rivalry, "We didn't know if it would work, of course, but it did. I think we're having twins," I frowned. I hadn't been wrong yet about my gut feelings concerning my babies. In another few weeks I would know their gender. We figured out it had something to do with the little bit of fairy blood in me and my ability to read minds.

"I have an idea of how to tell Dad. Anyone want to hear it?" Rowyn asked, sitting up and getting excited.

We heard his idea and spent the rest of the day putting it in motion. It would be a wonderful surprise for Eric.

**~Eric's POV~**

"Wakey-wakey," I heard Sookie's soft voice say in my ear. I moved quickly and pinned her under me without bothering to open my eyes. She smelled delicious.

"You smell like the sun, and like our children," I said, detecting a subtle hint of something else as well. It wasn't on her skin or in her blood. Just as quickly as I detected it, the scent vanished.

"Get dressed. The kids brought a movie to watch. It's that one that we missed at the theatre," she said, trying to wiggle out of my hold.

I opened my eyes and took in my fill of Sookie. Every single night I thanked Freyja and asked the goddess to bless my children for giving me the gift that let me keep my darling. She answered my gaze with a smile and a kiss on my nose.

"Do you want to watch the movie or what?" she asked, her smile growing wider.

"Or what sounds good," I said, having other things in mind, like ravaging my wife.

"Everyone is downstairs waiting," she said in a sing-song voice.

I groaned my disappointment and moved so she could feel why I wanted to keep her upstairs in our bedroom for a little longer. Her eyes closed on their own at the same time that she moaned. Before she could say no one more time, I'd taken off her pants and panties, kneeling between her legs to admire her nakedness from the waist down.

With a come-hither look she crooked her finger and gave me permission to do as I wished. She thought I was in charge, but in reality she was my sovereign, with as much power over me as a maker. I relished every single one of her commands.

I took her slow at first but built up quickly, still kneeling above her and enjoying the view of her body around mine. Her small pearl budded with need, and when I touched it Sookie cried in ecstasy. The sounds that woman makes! I brought her legs up over my shoulders, kissing her ankles as I dove inside her. Her moans of pleasure became steady, and as soon as her muscles began contracting around me, I bit into the soft flesh and felt my own orgasm build and spill inside my wife. I drank her sweet blood, just a sip this time. I tasted the sweetness of the coffee she must have drunk sometime in the past hour or two.

We showered, we dressed, each of us feeling that certain level of satisfaction that comes from making love, even though I wanted more. I was never completely fulfilled after a "quickie," as Sookie called them. We kissed before heading downstairs, where I smelled popcorn and chocolate. The chocolate was Idy's, and she was probably indulging in her latest craving.

I joined my family in the den, kissing Idony, shaking Evan's hand, and sitting next to Rowyn with an arm over his shoulder. He seemed to be in charge of the controls and would not relinquish them, even when I asked for them. He shook my arm off his shoulder.

"You're such a control freak, Dad," Rowyn said standing up and pulling Sookie to sit in his vacated spot.

"I resent that. Those are mine and I bought them with my money," I said, if only to see what kind of retort he would come up with.

"Yeah, okay, which is half Mom's, so whatever," Rowyn said, pointing the things at the entertainment center. He barely ever watched TV and was having trouble with the correct sequence of buttons to press.

Finally he was able to make everything work, but only by following Evan's instructions. What came on the large TV screen was not the movie Sookie had mentioned.

Filing slowly and set to music, I was treated to pictures of Idony and Rowyn growing up. Their births, first steps, loose teeth, playing in the backyard in the sun, our family vacations, Halloween, Christmas, proms and graduations. I felt proud of my children, and a bit nostalgic that their childhoods were over and the memories would now consist of their adulthoods, a time when they wouldn't need us as much… or at all.

Three pictures flashed at the end of the video, each with its own caption. Idony, born September 23, 2010. Rowyn, born November 2, 2016. Buns in the oven, scheduled to be born January 7, 2038.

I blinked and stared at the screen. My brain deciphered it quickly, of course, but it was still a surprise. We had been using the necklace for almost six months without any luck, and now…

"We're having twins?" I turned to Sookie who nodded and wiped her eyes.

"You're going to be a daddy," she whispered, the same words she had said to me twice already.

I hugged her fiercely. My miracle, my Sookie, was going to make me a father again, with twins no less! I felt blessed beyond limits.

"Thank you," she whispered, taking the handkerchief I offered her.

"Why are you thanking me? I am the one who is grateful… there are no words," I said, caressing her hair.

Sookie pulled away and looked at Idony and Rowyn. She opened her arms and they both raced each other to hug her.

"My babies," she whispered. "Thank you," she grabbed my shirt and pulled me into the group hug. "Thank you." She looked up and waved Evan over to join us. "Thank you."

**~THE END~**

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><p><strong>AN: I hope I didn't make y'all cry too much *sniff***


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